Apart from cost efficiency, an important warehouse management issue is safety. The human factor often causes risks and accidents that are hard to foresee. One way to limit these hazards is through custom-made end-of-line automation solutions such as those from Elettric 80. Its Freeway® System is designed to provide a complete solution for end-of-line automation, using palletizing robots, laser-guided vehicles, high-speed wrappers and a pallet control system.
These systems can automate part or all of the end-of-line process for clients in the fast-moving consumer-goods sectors, from palletizing of finished product to stretch-wrapping of pallets and storage/retrieval in the warehouse. Compared to work environments with manual, diesel-powered fork lift trucks, Freeway environments are safer due to reliable technology, calmer, and free from exhaust fumes – benefits that remain after return on investment has been realized.
How the Elements Work Together
Transports within the warehouse are carried out by laser-guided vehicles (LGVs), equipped with advanced safety technology such as proximity laser scanning (PLS), which continuously scans the immediate surrounding area, dividing it into two safety zones. When an obstacle is detected in the outer zone, the LGV slows down. If the obstacle remains and enters the inner zone, the vehicle stops completely until the obstacle is removed.
Sensors in the vehicles’ forks and around the vehicles control their exact position when cargo is picked up and unloaded. In addition to the safety features inherent in the technology, an LGV is never tired or distracted and never speaks on a mobile phone or radio while driving.
In the Freeway Systems, robots palletize the goods in a stable pattern secured by robotic stretch wrappers, yielding very stable pallets. The risk of goods collapsing on the pallet due to internal instability is reduced to a minimum, and such pallets resist even block storage in a safe way, especially when performed by LGVs.
Reducing Risk
While palletizing and wrapping, the robots are closed behind protective partitions. It is virtually impossible to unintentionally get too close to their moving parts.
In a warehouse with a Freeway System there is little reason to worry about walking through the block storage area, as the LGVs will sense your presence and the perfectly stable pallets will be stacked with a precision of a few centimeters; something that the average fork lift truck driver may not always be able to do.
The system also secures an even material flow. Housekeeping and prestaging in the shipping area, which makes the next day’s work smooth and rational, can be done during the night by the LGVs, flattening out peaks that cause stress and minimizing required pallet movements in the warehouse during the day -- both good factors when it comes to risk reduction.